Im not sure how much weight I would put into the quotes from a 19 yr old that is trying to do anything to please the coach. I more than anyone would like to see Frank walking down I75, but as long as he is willing to play the youth I am gonna bite my tongue and grit my teeth as we see the strangest rotations in sports.

I don't want to say I told you so, but I TOLD YOU SO . The Kid just doesn't have it, he's another Darren Collison or DJ Augustin. Maybe in a best case scenario he can pull it together like Mike Conley did, but I doubt it. The kid just isn't very good to me, not a total scrub, but definitely not an NBA starter on a good team.

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unfortunately I am starting to agree with that. And scoring in 2 out of the last 3 drafts is not too bad. Dumars really needs to learn when to cut his losses and Knight may be one of them.

At PG. His 3 point shooting could make him a starter on a couple teams in the L.

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Not on any good ones. He's a good kid, he has some skills, but he just doesn't have a feel for the PG position, nor does he have the size and scoring instinct to play SG. Carlos Arroyo and Luke Ridnour are upgrades over Knight IMO.

Not on any good ones. He's a good kid, he has some skills, but he just doesn't have a feel for the PG position, nor does he have the size and scoring instinct to play SG. Carlos Arroyo and Luke Ridnour are upgrades over Knight IMO.

unfortunately I am starting to agree with that. And scoring in 2 out of the last 3 drafts is not too bad. Dumars really needs to learn when to cut his losses and Knight may be one of them.

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I agree that Knight is not an instant success. More troubling, is that his skill set is very uneven. He seems at his best when he receives a pass and hoists up a shot. He gets into the lane and can finish now and again but more often he gets nothing out of it. And, the result of his drives do not seem to be a set up a pass down low or kick out for others. His ball handling skills are poor--this worries me the most. He often drives into turnover situations. He doesn't make a lot of steals on the defensive end. I have seen him rebound some. And in his behalf, he plays on a unit without a lot of shooters.

A likely scenario is that he improves his shot as young players do and improves the efficiency on his drives. Yes, he would have a place in the NBA. But the greater question is how likely will he pan out as the Piston point guard in a Piston revival? I don't know but the gamble of waiting to find out is too risky for this organization especially with the coming of Drummond.

Drummond and Monroe are important pieces and the next draft or free agency can bring in a point guard. That way the team's forward movement will not revolve around Knight who is only the third most important player on the roster at present.

My big concern is that Monroe's game also has not moved forward as much as I anticipated and that his present skill set does not seem that conducive to playing with Drummond. I would like to see Monroe get a reliable jump shot so that his offensive game is not always a drive to the hoop. Drummond will need some space down low and Monroe is a very valuable young player. I often wonder who is coaching the Piston youth. Andrew Bynum came into the league with no game but the Lakers coached him.

Damon Jones at point. Jon Barry at shooting guard. Corliss Williamson at small forward. Cliff Robinson at power forward. Zelly Rebracca at center. The best bench in the league. And it often rocked against the other team's starters.

Now, you can cut each of these players to pieces - save one. Zelly, at his best for us, was an excellent defender, the best ever we have had for boxing out, an excellent post up guy. Pretty much the ideal center. But Cliff, could not rebound. Barry, could not guard. Jones, really not a point guard. Corliss, no outside shot to speak of really, and way too slow on defense for a small forward. But the unit worked. Between the five, they possessed a lot of skills. Barry and Jones spread the floor for one, and also were adept at feeding the post - specifically, acting as a team of guards to find the entry pass at just the right time. Corliss slaughtered the opposing small forward with his post up game. Cliff added a third long ranger, and set picks good as gold and common as rain drops - and was the best post defender - outside Rebracca, that has come our way. (And no, forget it, Ben Wallace was nowhere near as good as Cliff at guarding top centers and power forwards in this league down in the post. Yes, Sheed was pretty good too.)

Compare to what we got now for our bench. A couple of fine outside shooters, one of whom really can't defend much. Point guards who are not really point guards. Both units had an outstanding defender at center. When we add Singler, both units had 3 long range shooters. Our current center can't shoot the ball from the outside. But both guards can shoot a little so maybe, just maybe, they had not quite as good outside shooting back in 2001-2002. Both units used one starter. (Cliff, Singler) Damon Jones tried his utmost on defense, had some height to add a little to our interior D, but could not stop a drive ever. Really, just 2 good defenders in the 2001-2002 group. (Cliff, Zelly) Current group - just one poor defender really in CV. Hmm, just maybe this bench is better than the 2001 - 2002 bench. Hard to believe. I don't believe it for a second. Why - Corliss and Zelly were both extremely skilled in the post. The ability of the duo of Jones and Barry to feed the post was absolute tops.

Analyzing things a bit. That is not the point though. The point is - what works, works. You do not have to be the prototypical anything. Just have skills that mesh with the guys you are playing on the floor with.

I was thinking about the Alternatorz earlier today and was trying to make the comparison, GREAT JOB LEE! But I was also trying to think about that starting unit that won 50 games. Chucky Atkins, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Curry, Ben Wallace and Cliff Robinson. THAT Going to Work team won 50 games. All we need is a Jerry Stackhouse on this team and we're in position to compete again.

I was thinking about the Alternatorz earlier today and was trying to make the comparison, GREAT JOB LEE! But I was also trying to think about that starting unit that won 50 games. Chucky Atkins, Jerry Stackhouse, Michael Curry, Ben Wallace and Cliff Robinson. THAT Going to Work team won 50 games. All we need is a Jerry Stackhouse on this team and we're in position to compete again.

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You know, we have a guy, in Middleton, who just might be our new Jerry Stackhouse. If only the coach would play him so we can see. As for that team we had, the next year we added in Billups, Tay, and Hamilton - but still only won 50 games. Curry had become pretty much a statue by that point, but he continued to start at small forward over Tay - who a lot of fans on this type of board slammed all kinds of ways - even though really they had not seen him play all that much. Compare that situation to today. We fans mostly want Drummond to take over for JMAX. But JMAX is still in his prime, defends the pick and roll well, is making his shots, and gets offensive rebounds even though his defensive rebounding is poor. Not a zero, zero, zero like Curry so often was if not close. Still, the reluctance to put in the clearly better player, Drummond, just because he is a rookie, does parallel what happed with Tay / Curry. To Frank's credit - he has already put in Singler, a rookie, to replace Stuckey in the starting unit, even though he makes the mistake of recreating that horrid starting unit with no shooting guard seemingly whenever he can.

To me, there is another similar situation. Tay. Tay is now getting older, and we have several younger options. Tay is no statue of course. But he may do us a whole lot better with reduced minutes off the bench. English and Middleton could get more minutes. Even JJ could get a shot at some small forward minutes. And also related to that, Singler is being asked to be both the starting shooting guard and backup small forward these dayes. Daye playing reduces that some, but adding Middleton, English, or JJ would maybe help Singler out a bit by letting him play in only one state - rested.

Lets pretend its two years from now. Tay and JMAX have decided to retire. We find ourselves deep in the playoffs. We start Knight, Middleton, Daye, Monroe, Drummond. These guys play heavy minutes, so our bench is not a great factor. We lose in the East finals, partially because our starters are just on their first half season as a unit. Hey, I say if that is the unit that will be in the East finals in two years, lets find out now, and if they really do show that kind of potential, give them a couple years practice. Two, three years from now, that could spell 'Ship.

Lee, Kris Middleton may have a role on this team, but can we PLEASE NOT PRETEND that we have a guy on our bench, who was a 2nd round pick, that can compete for the league's scoring title like Stack did.

Lee, Kris Middleton may have a role on this team, but can we PLEASE NOT PRETEND that we have a guy on our bench, who was a 2nd round pick, that can compete for the league's scoring title like Stack did.

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Why - because you have not seen him play? I only ask that he plays so we can see how good he is on that outside shot. I have already seen him enough to know he can slash to the basket plenty well. The alternative? Keep pairing up Stuckey and Knight at every opportunity. Now, how is that going to get us anywhere?